


lucky

by bohemianraspberries



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 06:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5774962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bohemianraspberries/pseuds/bohemianraspberries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every New Year, at midnight, they kiss for luck.</p><p>(Alternatively: five times Noya and Asahi kiss on the stroke of midnight and one time they don't quite.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	lucky

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started writing this before New Year but then I got so busy it got pushed back until now... So happy belated New Year lol
> 
> There's like, one swear word in here and some implied sexual content (but it's definitely not heavily implied), just as a heads up.
> 
> Some notes/explanations:
> 
>  _Kouhaku Uta Gassen_ is an annual music show that airs every New Year's Eve and features prominent musicians and groups from Japan and elsewhere. The name means _White vs Red_ and they divide the musicians into two teams - the White team is boys and the Red team is girls. The public and a panel of judges then vote for their favourite team at the end of the show.
> 
>  _Omamori_ are sold at Buddhist and Shinto shrines throughout the year. The most basic definition is a kind of good luck charm (although it's more nuanced than that) and there are different _omamori_ for specific needs.

_1._

The first time Noya kisses Asahi at midnight on New Year's Eve he finds out that his lips are rough, chapped and bitten, but his touch is unbelievably gentle. The kiss itself is not at all romantic; they meet unexpectedly at the shrine while with their families, and as their parents stand and chat stiffly, Noya remembers something he heard from Ryuu a few days ago.

"Hey, Asahi-san, you know how people kiss at New Year?"

Asahi starts. "D-do they?" he asks in a tone Noya has come to recognise as _flustered_.

He nods. "Yeah, it's like a thing."

"Oh." Asahi looks away. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, Ryuu's sister says people kiss each other at midnight on New Year's. It's supposed to bring good luck or something."

"Oh," Asahi says, paling a little, and Noya frowns. "I haven't ever kissed someone on New Year's Eve. Does that mean I have bad luck?"

He looks so unreasonably worried that Noya has to fight back a laugh. He purses his lips, considering.

"I don't know about bad luck," he says after a moment. "I bet you'd definitely have _better_ luck if you kissed someone though. Hey, we should try it!"

"What?" Asahi barks, eyes going wide as saucers. " _Try_ it?"

"Yeah," Noya says, suddenly rather excited at the prospect. "An experiment! We can try it and see if kissing brings us better luck next year. Like scientists!"

Asahi's eyes flicker towards his parents, standing a little way off, but then he turns back to Noya and nods, seeming to brace himself.

"Okay," he says, and closes his eyes.

Grinning, Noya takes this as his cue. He bends his knees a little and jumps, bumping their lips together as he hurtles upwards and back down again. It's maybe not a proper kiss, not a _real_ kiss - it lasts for a second at most - but in a moment Noya feels the roughness of Asahi's lips as they graze against his, the soft touch of his fingertips as they brush his neck accidentally.

He steps back, eyes alight. Behind him, bells are ringing in the New Year, but Noya barely hears them. Asahi looks startled, breathless, but after a moment he smiles, and Noya decides kissing is _definitely_ lucky.

Over the next few months things grow dark and sour between them; the volleyball team as a whole is hit hard by the loss against Datekou, and Noya feels like he's suffered a personal blow when Asahi walks away. Despite Ryuu's attempts to reassure him that Asahi will be back he loses faith in fortune, even stops believing in luck for a while. But when Asahi returns, when they become a real team again, when they beat Aoba Jousai and Shiratorizawa and finally, finally make it to nationals he starts to think his luck has turned.

Maybe Saeko was right, he considers.

_2._

The second time Noya kisses Asahi at midnight on New Year's Eve they're sitting up in Noya's bedroom, a much quieter setting. Luck has served Noya well this year - his family is away visiting relatives and he has managed to convince them he needs to stay behind to focus on his studies, while successfully roping Asahi in to babysit him. It's almost enough just to have Asahi in his room, sitting cross-legged on his bed with Noya's huge blanket wrapped around him, watching _Kouhaku Uta Gassen_ with starry eyes.

When it's over (the Red team having been declared the victors) he turns that gaze on Noya and says, "Thanks for letting me stay over."

Noya grins wide and pretends his heart didn't just skip a beat. "Don't worry about it, Asahi-san. My parents are pretty happy there's someone here to keep me in line."

Asahi laughs. "I don't know if anyone could keep you in line, Nishinoya."

Noya's about to protest, but at that moment some presenter on the TV starts the countdown to midnight and he's suddenly faced with Asahi's bashful smile, a small shrug of his shoulder; Noya opens his mouth but finds no words fall from his lips.

"For luck?" Asahi asks shyly. Noya just nods. As the countdown nears its end Asahi smiles, puts a soft hand on Noya's shoulder, draws him closer. Noya is struck by how much confidence he appears to have gained in the past year, how steady and sure he is of himself now. He hasn't lost his glass heart, but it seems just a touch less fragile.

Asahi kisses him, chaste and gentle, and Noya knows he's ruined for the rest of his life. When they break apart, seconds later, he feels like he's won the lottery. Asahi smiles.

"Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," Noya echoes, and then he remembers something. "Hey, happy birthday! You cheated me out of saying it last year, don't try and sneak out of it again!"

Asahi holds up his hands and laughs; the sound is music to Noya's ears. "Sorry, sorry!" he chuckles. "Thank you for the birthday wishes, Nishinoya. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, well," Noya mutters, suddenly morose, "I didn't get you a present or anything. I forgot, because you _never mention your birthday._ "

"You don't have to give me anything, Nishinoya," Asahi says sincerely. "Your company is enough."

Noya catches his breath. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbles. "Flattery won't get you anywhere."

"I mean it. I think..." Asahi looks down at the blanket, running his fingers along the soft material. "I think this is the best New Year I've ever had."

"That's cos you've never seen _Kouhaku Uta Gassen_ before!" Noya chides, before he can say anything stupid like, _I think I'm in love with you, Asahi-san, wanna be my boyfriend?_

(He'd rather not have to explain to his parents how he gave Asahi a fatal heart attack on his birthday.)

"My parents are very, uh, traditional. They don't really like stuff like that," Asahi explains a bit sheepishly, tugging at his bun. Unthinkingly Noya kneels up and unravels it, relishing the feeling of threading his fingers through Asahi's impossibly soft hair. 

"Your parents aren't here, Asahi-san," he murmurs.

Asahi looks up, big brown eyes full of some expression Noya doesn't know how to describe, one that makes his breath hitch. "I know."

Noya leans in, closes his eyes, bridges the distance between them before he can second guess himself. In the half-second it takes Asahi to react, Noya swears his heart stops - but then Asahi's kissing him back, kissing him for the second time in one night, and Noya can hardly believe his - well, _luck_.

If kissing Asahi brings him this much good fortune, he'll never stop.

_3._

The third year they kiss at midnight is the year Noya finds out just how "traditional" Asahi's parents are. The third year is the year Asahi knocks on his door, dishevelled and in tears and carrying a hastily packed bag, and says, "I'm sorry. I didn't have anywhere else to go."

Neither of them knows how Asahi's parents found out, but it's not hard to speculate. They were so careful - more careful than Noya wanted to be, in truth - but rumours travel in a town as small as theirs. All Noya knows is that they found out, that they confronted Asahi and told him how horrified, how ashamed they were, that they tried to make him break things off, and that when he refused, they threw their only son out on to the streets the night before his nineteenth birthday. It makes Noya's blood boil, and it's only Asahi's desperate pleas and gentle hands that stop him from going to find them and ask them what the hell they think they're playing at.

His own mother and father set up a futon for Asahi in his room; Asahi tries to help but he's a mess, so Noya makes him sit down with a cup of cocoa and watch this year's edition of _Kouhaku Uta Gassen_ to distract him from everything. It's difficult for Noya to control his rage but he has to, so he settles beside Asahi on the sofa and makes stupid smartarse remarks about the competitors' outfits to try and make him laugh.

Asahi starts crying again just before midnight, when Noya's parents and his little sister Hiyori have left for the shrine. Noya doesn't know what to do except hold him. He can't tell Asahi everything will be alright because that's a lie - things are most definitely not alright, and Noya has no proof that they will be in the near future. He thinks about his own parents, thinks that he never realised how lucky he is, and an idea comes to him. 

"Asahi," he says. Asahi sniffs and looks up, but makes no sound. "Remember Saeko-neesan said kissing at midnight is good luck."

Asahi shakes his head. "I need more than luck, Noya."

"You still need it," Noya tells him, suddenly bossy. "Anyway," he adds, faking indignance, "what about _my_ luck?"

Asahi gives him a weak smile. "Of course," he says. "I forgot, I'm sorry."

It's not the best kiss of Noya's life - it's messy and it tastes like tears and Asahi seems a little distracted still - but when he pulls back Asahi is wearing a genuine smile and Noya thinks, _I made that happen._

His mother and father return from the shrine a little before one in the morning. Hiyori, balanced on her mother's hip, is fast asleep, a charm clutched in her tiny fist. Noya's mother plucks it gently out of her hand and holds it out to Asahi.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, which strikes them both as an odd thing to say to someone when presenting them with a gift. "She wanted to give you this one specifically. I told her it was a bit rude, really, but she insisted. She said this one would cheer you up because it was the prettiest."

Asahi takes the charm, nonplussed; Noya peers over his shoulder and promptly bursts out laughing when he reads the word sewn into the pink silk and sees that it's a love talisman, a charm to help Asahi find a partner in the coming year.

"Don't go breaking my heart, Asahi-san," he teases, nudging him in the ribs with an elbow, and even Asahi manages a chuckle. Noya's father muffles his own laughter so as not to wake Hiyori as he passes his son a matching love charm, the wish for Asahi to find love becoming a wish for the two of them to stay together.

"Not to be presumptuous," he says, "but we thought you might appreciate that more."

"We got you another one each," Noya's mother adds, handing Noya a charm covered in black silk with the word _success_ embroidered in gold on the front, and he grins up at her, knowing she's almost as excited for him to go to Tokyo as he is. He looks over to see his father give Asahi a small, mustard yellow happiness charm, and smiles, silently thankful that his parents have been so accepting and willing to let Asahi in ever since Noya "officially" brought him home almost a year ago. 

Asahi's lip wobbles. "Thank you," he whispers.

Noya's mother grins and pats him on the head with her free hand. "You're welcome, Asahi. Happy New Year."

_4._

The fourth year, Noya paces his room incessantly and thinks about how he won't get a kiss this time. He slams his fist against the wall and blames his stupid schedule and his stupid coach for not allowing him to go home for the holidays; he kicks the doorframe and blames himself for electing to stay shut up in his apartment instead of going out and celebrating with his teammates - the one bit of time off the coach has given them, supposedly because it's good for team bonding. He slumps on the floor, nursing his foot, and thinks about how much he misses Asahi.

It's been almost four months since they last saw one another; it was the tail end of summer when they said goodbye, and Asahi _promised_ he'd come and stay this term, but what with his job at the Foothill store and Noya's horrendously busy schedule they haven't found the time - not even for a weekend visit. Even their phone calls have been stretched thin recently, due to a sudden onslaught of extra practice sessions. He misses Asahi more than he can put into words - he misses him so much he feels it in his very bones, an ache of tension that no amount of stretching or heatpads or massages will ease. There's a hollow feeling in his chest, a gnawing jealousy whenever one of his teammates mentions a girlfriend or a boyfriend, someone they met at a bar or a café in the city, someone they get to see most weekends (depending on their murderous training regimen, of course), someone they don't have to travel hours to visit, don't have to leave behind, someone they can come home to.

 _Home._ He wants it, wants _him_ so badly it hurts.

There's a knock on the door, and Noya just about manages to drag himself off the floor and hobble to the hallway to answer it, barely bothering to wonder who the hell could want what with him at ten to midnight on New Year's Eve.

Of course it would be Asahi.

It takes him a moment to process, to register that Asahi's real and not just a wonderful figment of his imagination, but as soon as he does he's leaping into Asahi's arms and holding on tight to make sure that he never, ever has to let go. Asahi staggers backwards a couple of steps, but luckily he's already dropped his bag and is clutching Noya just as tightly as Noya is clutching him.

"Asahi-chan," Noya whimpers, burying his face in Asahi's jacket and breathing in the cotton-fresh scent of _home_. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Asahi assures him. "We have to hurry," he says, giving Noya one last squeeze before setting him back on his feet. 

Noya frowns, nonplussed. "What for?" he demands.

"Our kiss," Asahi replies, smiling a little. "We have to kiss at midnight if we want good luck for the rest of the year."

Noya grins. "You have no idea how much I love you, Asahi-chan."

"Almost as much as I love you," Asahi responds, laughing. 

Noya rolls his eyes. "Shut up and kiss me." 

Asahi does kiss him - long, not slow and gentle but hard and rough and full of urgency, the way Noya likes, the way that means _I've missed you_ , the way that means _I want you, I_ need _you_. Noya can feel the damp heat of Asahi's breath on his own lips, the roughness of his calloused fingertips as they slide under his shirt and over his ribcage, and he shudders and lets out a groan that would be embarrassing if he didn't know Asahi wants him as much as he wants Asahi.

"Asahi, I need -" 

Asahi doesn't have to prompt him to finish his sentence, picking him up and letting him curl his legs around his waist. They stagger towards Noya's tiny bedroom still entwined, all hands and mouths and unabashed desire, and Noya's lust-addled brain just about has space for the thought that he is, without a doubt, the luckiest man in the world.

Later, when they're lying tangled up in the sheets, sweaty and exhausted and blissful, Asahi kisses him again, slow this time, and sweet, and it means _I've missed you_ and _I need you_ in an entirely different way. Noya's not sure which way is his favourite, but he's grateful that he doesn't have to choose.

"I've been thinking," Asahi murmurs as Noya runs his fingers through his hair (still unbelievably soft to the touch). 

"About anything in particular?" he mumbles, and Asahi chuckles.

"I was thinking about... moving to Tokyo."

Noya stops playing with Asahi's hair and sits up.

"Tokyo?"

"Yeah." Asahi props himself up on one elbow and looks at him. "This year's just been really difficult, you know? I've missed you so much."

"I miss you too." Noya feels like he can't process the information fast enough. _Tokyo?_ "But - what about your job?"

Asahi smiles. "There are jobs here, Yuu." 

"But Ukai-san trained you up to be manager," Noya protests. "You just got promoted!"

Asahi's face darkens, and he looks away. "I just want to be closer to you. If that's not what you want -"

Noya groans - why does he have to choose _now_ to get all insecure? " _Obviously_ I want you to be close! You have no fucking idea how much I miss you. And you have no idea how much I wish you were here. All the time - I can't stop _thinking_ about it."

Asahi glances up at him, puzzled. "Then what -"

"I don't want you to sacrifice things for my sake! I don't want you just to pack up and leave everything for me, I don't want that. Because what if -" He shakes his head, voicing the fear that's been nagging at him, persistent, creeping at the corners of his mind every time he's thought about this. "What if you decide it's not worth it? What if you hate Tokyo, and you're unhappy, because of me?"

When he opens his eyes (unaware he'd even closed them) Asahi is staring at him, beautiful and unreadable. 

There is a pause. Noya wills him to say something, anything, just to break the silence - but he just stares.

"Yuu," he says eventually, soft, "I would go to the ends of the earth for you. You're the most important thing in my life. You must know that."

"Asahi-chaaaan," Noya wails, crumbling, because _seriously?_ He doesn't know what's worse - the fact that Asahi can spout cringe-makingly cheesy lines in total seriousness or that he can make Noya blush like a shoujo heroine because of it.

Asahi smiles. "Besides, how bad can Tokyo be? It's got you in it."

"Stop," Noya tells him, kissing him to shut him up. 

It works. They don't stop kissing for a long time that night.

_5._

Asahi almost misses their fifth New Year's kiss, so busy is he telling Suga all about how much he loves Tokyo, despite the fact he was so anxious he cried three times on his first day at the store where he works. 

(He's now the assistant manager there.)

Noya watches Suga's face, the genuine surprise at how much Asahi's grown over the past year, how different he is now from the ace with the glass heart Noya met at fifteen.

(He was still bowled over by him, even then.)

He thinks about how scared Asahi was about moving away from everything he knew, how insistent he was that he do it anyway, how utterly terrifying he found the city before he settled in, swept along by its bright, noisy rhythm. He thinks about how nervous Asahi was to come back to Karasuno, how the thought of potentially seeing his parents again made him shake and shake for hours and nothing Noya did could help, how he was anxious about whether he'd still be able to connect with their old teammates, whether Daichi and Suga had said good things about him, whether the others would even remember him. 

(How he came anyway, because he knew Noya wanted to.)

It often occurs to Noya to wonder what he did to deserve this gentle, gorgeous man who still cries when a dog dies in a movie, who regularly comes home looking like a drowned rat because he forgot his umbrella even after he checked the weather forecast, who reads countless articles on diet and nutrition just so he can make Noya the best, healthiest packed lunch to take to training every day. He thinks about their first kiss at the shrine five years ago, and he wonders if he knew then, even unconsciously, how important Asahi was, _is_ \- how strong, how vital. From the first moment he saw him on the court he never wanted to win without Asahi by his side - he even quit the team because of that. He wonders if he knew then, deep down, that he wouldn't ever want to live without him either.

He's distracted, thinking about how grateful he is for everything the universe has thrown at him, so much that he doesn't realise it's almost midnight until Ryuu starts a countdown and everybody else joins in. Asahi catches his eye, clearly startled too, and Noya grins and bounces over to him and wonders for perhaps the millionth time in his life how he's managed to snag the best-looking guy at the party. 

"For luck?" he says. Asahi laughs softly.

"I don't need a lucky kiss, Yuu. I already know how fortunate I am."

"Asahi-chan," Noya tells him reproachfully, "you have no idea how ridiculous you sound."

"You're blushing, though," Asahi counters with a smile.

"Shut up," Noya mutters. Just because Asahi's got an amazing instinct for romance, it doesn't mean he isn't also ridiculous. The two aren't mutually exclusive. 

(He _has_ got incredible romantic instinct, though. Noya makes a mental note to try and beat him next year.)

"If not for luck, then because it's tradition," he declares. "And breaking tradition is by default bad luck, so really it's lucky anyway."

Asahi laughs again and then leans down to kiss him, quick and tender, before the chimes end.

"I love you so much, Yuu," he whispers when he pulls away. "Never change."

"I won't if you won't," Noya promises with a wink. "Here's to next year."

"And the next," Asahi beams.

"And the one after that."

"Forever."

Noya regards him, eyes bright and crinkled at the corners and full of happiness.

"Forever," he agrees.

_+1._

On their sixth New Year's Eve together, they are holed up in their tiny Tokyo apartment, drinking cocoa and watching _Kouhaku Uta Gassen_ (something Noya sort of hopes will become another tradition for them - as much as he loves parties and people, he loves having Asahi all to himself even more).

Noya's foot jiggles, heel bouncing off the wooden floor as he desperately tries to contain his nervous energy. He doesn't want Asahi to get suspicious, but he's having a hard time passing himself off as relaxed. He's gone through this with Ryuu a thousand times via text, and Ryuu's assured him that literally nothing could possibly go wrong - but even so, he can't help worrying, which is strange because he usually leaves that to Asahi. What if Asahi doesn't approve? What if he thinks Noya doesn't know what he's getting into? Oh hell, what if he thinks it's a _joke?_

 _Nishinoya Yuu,_ he tells himself, _calm the fuck down._ Asahi loves him, he's entirely certain of that, and Asahi knows Noya would follow him to hell and back without a second's hesitation, so really he has nothing to be afraid of. It's not nerves, he tells himself. It's anticipation.

He _is_ excited, obviously, and as the clock ticks towards midnight he finally manages to muster up all the courage he has, to turn to Asahi and tell him, "Close your eyes."

Asahi obeys. At eight seconds to midnight, Noya takes his hand and slips a silvery band of metal, warm from his own palm, on to his ring finger. 

Asahi immediately opens his eyes.

"Yuu -" he chokes out, his gaze flicking down to the ring on his finger and back up to Noya's face. "I don't understand - is this -?"

"What else would it be?" he smiles, his own voice wobbling a little. "Marry me, Asahi-chan. I want to spend my whole life with you. I want to kiss you every New Year for the rest of forever, like you said."

"But - you said you didn't think marriage was necessary for those things," Asahi stutters.

Noya shrugs. "I don't," he says honestly. "But I know this is one thing that would make you really happy."

" _Yuu!_ " Asahi is crying now, tears rolling freely down his cheeks, but he's smiling too. He sniffs. "I don't even know what to say."

"How about 'Yes'?" Noya suggests.

"Yes, of course, yes, what else?" Asahi babbles, and Noya laughs, relieved beyond belief. "Of course I will - I love you more than anything -"

"I know, Asahi-chan," he says, feeling warmer and surer and happier than he's ever felt in his life. "I love you too."

This year they don't end up kissing until one minute after midnight, but Noya doesn't care. He doesn't need a kiss to cement his good fortune; he knows he's already the luckiest person who ever lived.

**Author's Note:**

> this is so sappy sorry


End file.
